The picture sharpness SEEMS better than other regular vcrs and, it took tremendous pain for me to say something that positive about the Sony SLV-N51.

I haven't got the time time to write.

There is no pitiful enough name to describe this demonic machine. I too, fell victim to the Sony SLV-N51. I'm recovering from the hell this junk put me and others through. The machine is possessed, if a tape wasn't recorded in it, it will distort the picture and audio incredibly and if you're not quick, it will eat the tapes too. When you record a program in this vcr (I use the term 'VCR', VERY loosely) most of the time the machine is ignorant of that fact and will search for the beginning of the program till no end. I'm not buying another Sony product. This piece of junk is fit for the pit... or should I say the pitbull.

picture, sound, inputs, features, price.

None!

I was looking through the list of reviews to find my VCR when i saw this one for a similar price. after reading the reviews i concluded that this was not the same VCR i had because mine worked great, it had sharp picture and clear sound. then i was suprised to see that they were the same model. im not sure why some people gave this model such bad reviews but i havent had any problems with mine at all.

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Several, none as goood as this.

It looks nice. (until you have to use it...then you grow to look upon it with the white hot hatred of a thousand suns)

Everything about it.

This is an absolute piece of Garbage. The picture and sound are awful, and the tracking never worked properly. My parents and I had the unlucky fortune to need a new VCR last January while this was the current model. Theirs is completely dead. No picture. Kaput. I would reccomend searching through the junk yard for an old VCR that was thrown away in favor of a newer model before I'd reccomend buying this useless piece of equipment.

Cheap, auto-set clock.

The aforementioned rewinding problem, flimsy feel to unit.

Bought this VCR when the coax-in got wrenched out of my Samsung. (Oops!) I haven't had any of the audio or video problems that others have had, but this VCR has been troublesome nonetheless. When recording, I have to fast-forward about 30 seconds to 1 minute into the tape or the VCR eats the first section of tape and then won't record. Friends have theorized that the VCR rewinds it too far or something, but this even happens when I use my seperate rewinding unit.

Similar Products Used:

Samsung, Zenith.

None.

Quality.

Bought it--it ate my favorite tape--Can''t believe how poor Sony has become--this broke; my Sony camcorder broke almost immediately; my 200 disk cd player broke--and I am very, very gentle with my equipment. No more Sony for me.

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None as bas as this.

Fast Rewind function, front A/V

Poor loading mechanism, substandard picture, shoddy and flimsy design, bad audio filtering, cheesy LCD display, cheap remote control

My Optimus went south (a old, heavy, durable 172 model), so I skipped out to Wal-Mart and picked up the best Sony they had there, the SLV-N51. I did this because I had purchased an SLV-N80 for a friend a year or two back, and I thought it was a great unit. After hooking it up, I immediately noticed my pass-through audio had cracks and hisses. I hooked up my old VCR to check (this part still worked), and the pass-through audio was fine. I hooked the N51 back up, and the audible cracks and breaks were still there. Picture quality was just not that great for older tapes and even newer, store bought tapes are at best, barely passable. My Optimus (read RADIO SHACK), had much better picture quality. Audio was a little dimmer and not as distinct with the N51. It seemed dull and flat. I ran various tapes until I realized after the cracking, hissing on normal TV and the at best mediocre picture quality coupled with pale audio, why this unit was $99.95. I will give the SLV-N81 a try next and see how that pans out.

Similar Products Used:

Optimus 172, Sony N80

hmm, none here

every single aspect of this plastic paperweight!

This is about the poorest attempt at an electronic device, I have ever seen in my life. I cannot stand the picture quality or the audio quality. I was watching a movie, and had my eyes focused on my screen, and asked my friend to take his hand off of the front of my Dynaudio Contour 1.3's...it turns out, he wasn't even in the room. The audio quality is atrocious to the third degree! This heap is going back to the flea market after I am done typing this sentence.

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Mitsubishi, Hughes

Lightweight...Easy to throw across the room without breaking your back.

Video, Audio, Hey...isn't that what a VCR is supposed to do...No backlit remote.

What frosts my weenee the most is that I gave my sister my old Sharp mono vcr to use at university when I bought this new stereo unit. The Sharp's loading mechanism was flaky and the remote had seen much better days (memory of a hamster eating the buttons...) but at least it recorded a clear picture and had good sound. The batteries even lasted 6 (yes!!! 6 years!!!) in the remote before they needed changing.

This hunk of crap is not worth boxing up and returning to those "mecha's of knowledge" at Future shop. Those idiots are even worse than this "Sony" knockoff. Poor video and audio make recordings off the dish look and sound like a 9th recording of a borrowed tape.

If you are Xmas shopping, stay away from this unit. It is a waste and if you want family members to love you, pony up an extra $20 and get a real machine.

Similar Products Used:

Sharp mono VCR (9 years old)

cheap $$$$

cheap quality , hey , you get what you pay for .....right?

needed a new vcr . my RCA crapped out . cheaper to buy new vcr's now than to repair an old mid priced one . didn't have the money for the new JVC that I would prefer to have .
as far as features go ...you are not going to get all the bells and whistles for a $100 vcr ( unless quality is sacrificed more than it already is )
as far as quality for the money ......so far so good . one year warranty from sony . to the other reviewers who say they have problems ...... take it back .
this is a second vcr for me . replaces RCA $250 model that only lasted three years ......means this one only needs to last a year ( all warranty'd )for it to beat value of the RCA .
no where near the 10 years my JVC has lasted ( still used almost everyday for recording TV shows ).....mind you I paid $450 for it .
which brings me back to "you get what you pay for".....if anywhere this is so true it is the electronics/computer biz.

Flash rewind, auto-tracking, instant replay, commercial skip, great picture quality, good audio, compact size, front A/V inputs, search functions.

Sony cannot guarantee auto-tracking on tapes recorded in LP mode. VCR cannot record in LP mode. Auto-clock set may take a while or be inaccurate. Stereo and dolby playback requires composite connection.

This VCR has the best value of any I've ever seen! It has a total of two A/V inputs, one on front and one on back. This allows for easy editing with a camcorder or another VCR, and also easily allows the hookup of a second component, such as a DVD player or video game (even if your TV only has one or no video inputs.) However, as mentioned above, you must use the composite connection on the VCR for stereo or dolby playback. Using the RF cable will result in monophonic playback.
When the VCR uses auto-clock set, it recives a signal from your local PBS station to set the clock. Be forewarned that many stations to not maintain their clocks, so the auto-clock set may be incorrect. If this is the case, you can disable it to enter your own (correct) time. My auto-clock set worked perfectly, but in many areas it does not.
Commerical skip is very useful as it fast-forwards 30 seconds in advance for every press of the button on the remote. Instant replay rewinds 15 seconds back.
Flash rewind will rewind a T-120 tape in 60 seconds, which is very, very fast. In addition to the swiftness, though, is noisiness.
I would highly reccommend this VCR to anyone who does not have a cable box and is not interested in VCR Plus+. This is a great machine and it vastly surpassed my expectations.

INCLUDED:
Remote Commander: RMT-V306
Two AA batteries (supplied)
Short RF coaxle cable: Sony brand

NOT INCLUDED:
A/V cable.